Negative Zone
by Rainboom93
Summary: Twilight Sparkle and co. meet a new friend - Dawn Shimmer, a unicorn capable of some powerful magic. Dawn leads the group on an adventure to Fillydelphia, but things soon spiral out of control and will leave the ponies struggling to stay alive.
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Dear Princess Celestia,  
>My friends and I have learnt an important lesson today; never to judge anypony based on appearance, and never hold a grudge. A strange pony came to Ponyville – Dawn Shimmer, a unicorn with more powerful magic than I've ever managed! At first I was jealous and my friends were bitter towards her for the way she carried herself, but once we got to know her, we all had a good laugh and everything turned out okay.<br>Tomorrow, Dawn is leading us on a journey to visit her and her friends in Fillydelphia.  
>Your faithful student,<br>Twilight Sparkle._


	2. Think with Portals

1. Think with Portals

"I wonder why the Princess didn't reply to my last letter." Twilight asked aloud as the group of ponies cantered across a lone dirt path lined with apple trees – the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. Her usual group of friends were with her: Spike, her faithful baby dragon student, Pinkie Pie, Applejack (who was fighting a strong habit of bucking every apple tree she saw), Rarity and, trailing behind, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Dash was keeping her fellow Pegasus company, since Fluttershy was unnerved by the new ponies leading them to Fillydelphia: Dawn Shimmer and Juliet Shimmer.

Dawn was, like Twilight and Rarity, a unicorn, and was capable of powerful magic. The previous day, Dawn and Twilight had a magic competition – Twilight was sure Dawn was simply boasting and overstating her abilities like Trixie had done, but to everyponies surprise, Dawn was legitimately powerful and trumped Twilight. This had originally made the ponies bitter, but they had grown to accept one another. Dawn was a pale pink colour, and her mane and tail mimicked Twilight's style – her colours, however, were odd – rather than being purple with a simple pink streak, Dawns was pink with a pale purple streak, and her cutie mark was also strange, and the other ponies couldn't figure out what it was. To them, it was simply a ball of intermingling colours. Dawn had described it as a 'supernova', whatever that was. Juliet Shimmer was much less remarkable. She was a simple, plain blue earth pony with a tuft of bronze mane and no tail or cutie mark.

"I dunno." Pinkie chirped as she hopped beside Twilight. "Who cares? We're going to Fillydelphia! You know what we should do when we get there?" Twilight sucked in a breath of air, preparing to answer, but was immediately cut off by Pinkie shouting "PARTY!" and jumping even higher. Dawn and Juliet shared an intrigued look, and shrugged off the pony's eccentric behaviour. They would have to get used to it.

A fair distance behind them, a begrudged griffon by the name of Gilda stalked the group. For what seemed like years, Gilda had been planning her revenge on Pinkie Pie… she would out-prank the pink pony yet…

"I still can't believe you lost, Twilight!" Spike said, meeting a satisfied smirk from Dawn. "You know twenty-five kinds of magic!"  
>"Actually, twenty-nine now." Twilight corrected without thinking. The baby purple dragon looked up at her, confused.<br>"What are the new ones?"  
>"Oh, never mind. They uh… wouldn't have helped me win."<br>"But what is it?" Spike persisted. Dawn tilted her head at her fellow unicorn. Why would Twilight have held back? What could the new magic be? Whatever they were, even her student didn't know about them…

"Oh, Twilight, can't you use that spell of yours and give me those _lovely_ wings?" Rarity complained, examining her once pristine hooves being slowly coated in a layer of dust and dirt. "I'm getting filthy."  
>"Oh, I haven't done that since before the Young Flier's competition, Rarity, I... I can't remember how." Twilight responded flashing her fashion fuelled friend a guilty smile. Rarity sighed.<br>"That's alright, Twilight, as long as we don't have to travel for much longer."  
>"Oh, we've still got a long way to go." Juliet hummed. This was the first time Juliet had spoken – usually she was quieter than Fluttershy. Everyone around her, save for Dawn, was startled. Juliet's voice was silky and friendly.<br>"Oh, dear." Rarity huffed. She turned over her shoulder and looked at the Pegasus ponies. "Rainbow? Fluttershy? Would either of you mind giving me a lift?" She chirped, batting her eyelashes.  
>"Oh… I… um…" Fluttershy mumbled, hanging her head and looking at her wings, flapping them once. She had always been a weak flier – no way would she be able to carry another pony. But she didn't want to hurt Rarity's feelings by rejecting her request.<br>"Forget it!" Dash smirked, "you can get dirty for once, Rarity!" She laughed to herself. Rarity pouted to herself.

"Oh, you don't want to walk?" Juliet cooed softly. Instantly, everypony was hanging on her words – her voice was captivating.  
>"Oh I don't mind the walking; I just don't like the dirt!" Rarity explained to the new pony. Juliet smiled.<br>"Well, Dawn knows a teleportation spell?" Juliet offered.  
>"But, that spell only works for the pony using it..." Twilight commented. She looked at Dawn – as a fellow naturally gifted unicorn, Shimmer was bound to support her.<br>"Actually," Dawn said, to Twilight's surprise, "I know a… special kind of teleportation spell. It's a little portal that'll take us straight to Fillydelphia."  
>"It'll get us away from the dirt." Juliet chirped. Rarity nodded in approval.<br>"Oh, yes, that sounds splendid. I simply can't _wait_ to have a groom when we get there!" exclaimed the white pony.  
>"Well then, stand back, everypony!" Dawn said. Fluttershy stopped instantly, and Rainbow Dash landed softly next to her. Twilight, Spike, Juliet, Rarity and Applejack all stood well back from Dawn Shimmer, who bowed her head and closed her eyes. A shimmering magenta aura surrounded Dawn's horn as she unleashed her inner magic. Her muscles strained and her entire body shook as she exerted herself, putting everything she had into this one spell. Everypony around, save for Juliet, gasped as the ground beneath Shimmer buckled, and smoke began seeping from her hide.<p>

"Dawn, stop! You'll…" Twilight began, but never managed to finish her sentence. She stared wide-eyed at the pale pink unicorn and the violently shaking ball of deep black energy that was developing on her horn and expanding rapidly. The ball twisted and spiralled inwards into itself, swirling around viciously and sucking loose pieces of dirt in. Dawn dug her hooves into the ground as she, too, was being tugged towards the out of control vortex. The spell had gone horribly wrong. Twilight and Rarity looked on, wanting to use their magic to save Dawn, but not knowing this spell or how to stop or control it. The magenta around Dawn's horn suddenly shot from her and into the vortex. The deep black vortex gently floated away from Dawn, being coloured a deep, crimson red. It slowly stopped swirling and came to hover just above the ground before the pink pony, pulsing gently. Dawn panted hard, sweat pouring from her face.

"Th… there's… the…" Dawn sucked in a huge breath before adding "portal…" and collapsing into the dirt. The other ponies all dashed in and formed a close circle around the grounded unicorn.  
>"Anypony got some water?" Applejack asked the group aloud.<br>"I got it!" Rainbow answered, rocketing into the sky, plucking a raincloud and rocketing back, splashing Dawn with her own personal shower in ten seconds flat. She hovered above the unicorn expectantly. Shimmer's eyes twitched slightly then forced their way open. She sucked in great gulps of air.  
>"Phew… that was… that was a lot… easier… in my zone…" Dawn huffed.<br>"Your zone? You have a zone? Does everypony get a zone? I want a zone!" Pinkie Pie chimed between leaps as she jumped around the newly revived unicorn and the crimson portal.  
>"She calls Fillydelphia 'her zone'." Juliet explained.<p>

Dawn shakily struggled to her hooves.  
>"You okay, sugarplum?" Applejack asked. Dawn nodded, shaking a few beads of sweat from her mane. Stray hairs clung to the sides of her face – that spell was a difficult one. If Dawn passed out while doing it, then there's no way Twilight would be able to pull it off. That fact pained her slightly. After all, until that moment, the only magic she hadn't been able to perform was the raising of the sun or moon.<br>"Yeah, I'm okay." Dawn said with a final huff. She wiped the sweat from her face with her right front hoof and stood triumphantly, facing the portal. She grinned widely.  
>"So, what now?" Spike asked, inching slowly away from Twilight in favour of standing near Rarity.<br>"Now, we go through the portal." Juliet responded, her silky voice assuring everypony that it was safe. Dawn went first: the pale pink pony calmly walked straight into the pulsing portal and stuck out her hoof, touching it as delicately as anypony could manage. The portal seemed to turn to liquid, and the deep crimson bubbled around Dawn, slowly covering her. She stayed calm as she became completely covered by the strange ooze, then, with an other-worldly, violent slurp, the portal sucked her in, and she was gone. Everypony besides Juliet gasped.  
>"It's okay, everypony, that's what's supposed to happen. Who's next? Be quick, Dawn's waiting for us in Fillydelphia." Spoke the small blue pony in her trademark, sugar coated voice.<br>"I will," Rainbow Dash said, "I'm sick of standing around." She trotted up to the crimson portal and, just like Dawn had done, tapped it with her hoof, and within seconds, she was on the other side.

"I'm going next!" Pinkie chimed, still hopping around the portal. She recklessly jumped straight on top of it – meeting gasps of horror from her friends – and was sucked in much faster than Rainbow was.  
>"Is that safe?" Twilight asked in shock.<br>"Yes." Juliet said simply. "Now, who else wants to get a hundred miles closer to a groom and a bath?" She asked teasingly. Predictably, Rarity responded, her eyes growing wider and her face twisting into a hopeful smile. She didn't even wait for an answer. Forgetting momentarily about the dust, she charged into the portal, knocking Spike aside and face first into the dusty path as she galloped, and was instantly sucked into the crimson fluid.

Rarity popped out of the portal expectantly, half believing that she would exit in a beauty salon. Instead, she had exited onto an almost identical pathway – just as long, and just as dusty. This one, however, was surrounded by dead, snow-covered trees rather than the lively apple-bearing trees on the outskirts of Ponyville. Evidently, it was winter here. Not only that, but the sky was so dark, it seemed to be midnight. Fillydelphia wasn't _that _far from Ponyville… was it?  
>"Hey, what gives?" Dash asked Dawn, filling in Rarity's question in much fewer words. Pinkie hadn't even noticed they weren't in Fillydelphia –she had rushed off to make snow angels.<br>"Juliet will explain when she gets here." Shimmer assured the Pegasus, who flew around in circles impatiently.

Nopony even needed to ask who would go through the portal next – Spike, his pupils impossibly transformed into throbbing hearts, followed the beautiful Rarity through the portal. Twilight followed closely behind her student, for her own reason: she had witnessed the entrances into the portal. Now she wanted to witness the exits, as well as experience the transportation. She would have to study this portal closely if she were to have any chance of ever performing it herself. The purple unicorn confidently stepped up to the crimson bubble, tapping it gently, allowing the liquid to flow over her. She could see nothing once the crimson enveloped her other than stars – countless stars, shooting by her at insane and impossible speeds. Stars faded and gave way to black. A deep, deep black – it didn't look evil or sinister, just… empty. Then, suddenly, stars shot towards her again at ridiculous speeds, then her vision turned crimson, and she was spat out the other side. To her surprise, she was standing perfectly still, perfectly balanced, despite the ridiculous speeds she had just felt. What an odd magic, she thought to herself. She joined her confused friends on the snowy path, standing near Spike to make sure he didn't either drool on Rarity or propose to her. She didn't question their location – Dawn didn't look worried by it, so why should she?

"Guess I'm next." Applejack noted, looking between the shivering Fluttershy and the calm Juliet. She was concerned for the nervous Pegasus and wanted to help her friend, but Juliet's voice was just so calm and reassuring, perhaps she would be of better help. The farmer went to tap her hoof to the portal, but stopped just inches from it, sparking a confused look from Juliet and Fluttershy. Applejack quickly trotted over to the nearest tree, and, with one swift buck, knocked every single apple from it. She sighed with relief – applebucking was like a drug to her, and she loved it. Satisfied, she trotted through the portal.

Fluttershy hid behind her wings. The portal was strange. It made violent, sucking noises, and it had taken all of her friends. Sure, everypony had said it was safe, and she trusted them, but it still scared her – it was strange.  
>"Come on, scaredypony," Juliet teased, "you're next." Fluttershy's shaking increased. She trembled as she folded her wings to the sides and looked at the menacing portal. Juliet cantered over to her, and smiled warmly. "Don't worry, it's okay. It's not painful or anything. Just try it, you'll see." Juliet assured her. Somehow, her soft voice just let Fluttershy know it would be alright. It reminded her of the way she spoke with animals – something about her voice was just able to calm the nerves and communicate on a different level. Fluttershy cantered to the portal and glanced back at Juliet, who smiled broadly and nodded. The yellow Pegasus hesitantly tapped her hoof on the portal, and within seconds, was safely on the other side. Seconds later, Juliet came through the portal and joined the rest.<p>

"So, where are we?" Rainbow asked.  
>"Where's Fillydelphia?" Spike added.<br>"Where are all the apples?" Applejack said, unnerved that there could be such a wide expanse without an apple in sight.  
>"Where's my bath?" Rarity pouted.<br>"Yeah, where's the lady's bath?" Spike demanded, slamming a fist into an open palm. He glanced up at Rarity to see if she had taken notice, and, unfortunately, she hadn't.  
>"Calm down," Juliet hushed, and instantly, everypony turned to face her. "Just follow us. We can't open a portal in the middle of Fillydelphia, not many ponies know this kind of magic and it would cause a panic. We're actually just outside of the town." Content, the Ponyville citizens followed Juliet and Dawn down the frost covered road.<p>

"Uh oh…" Pinkie mumbled. Her tail had started twitching.


	3. Paint it Black

2. Paint It Black

"Twitch-a twitch! Twitch-a twitch!" Pinkie exclaimed. The pink pony, along with Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy all raced to take cover under the snow-covered trees. Spike, of course, took this opportunity to cuddle into Rarity. Her hair was warm and soft.  
>"Why are you hiding?" Juliet asked politely. Rainbow Dash, the only Ponyvillian not to have hidden, responded.<br>"They're hiding because, when Pinkie's tail twitches, it means something is about to fall from the sky." Dawn and Juliet shared a knowing look.  
>"Oh, Seth's gonna <em>love <em>her." Dawn mocked. The Shimmer's were sharing some inside joke, to which Dash scowled – she didn't like being left out. Suddenly, the three of them remembered the imminent danger. Juliet and Dawn also darted under the trees, which Twilight thought of as odd. When she learnt of Pinkie's twitching tail, it had taken a long time and ultimately a hydra attack to convince her, yet, Dawn just accepted it. Did the two ponies know each other? She shook herself from those thoughts.  
>"Rainbow Dash," she called to her friend, "why are you just standing there? Something's about to fall!"<br>"Yeah, I know. But nothing can fall fast enough to hit me! I'm the fastest pony in Equ-" Dash was instantly silenced by a thunderous impact.

Nopony saw it coming. Parts of the sky suddenly lit up like a thunderstorm – only, it wasn't a thunderstorm, it was far too close to the ground, and the spectacular boom of thunder didn't follow. Rather, the loud noise was caused by a massive impact onto the snow far down the path. Snow and dust rained on the trees lining the path, and, whatever had smacked the earth was now ploughing towards Rainbow at a fantastic speed. The blue Pegasus hopped into the air and watched intently as the object turned into a snowball, which rolled past Dash and slowed to a stop. Frowning with curiosity, she hovered closer, only to squeal in shock as the large snowball blasted apart, scattering snow across the already icy path. In the centre of the path, standing proudly despite the blood beginning to dribble from her snout, was a black and grey pony. Its mane and tail resembled those of Rainbow Dash's, only longer and more unkempt. Her hair was a dark grey, and her mane and tail were streaks of the same grey streaked with a black that matched the starless sky. The newcomer was, like the blue pony staring at her, a Pegasus.  
>"What?" she growled. Dash was slightly taken aback –she wasn't expecting the pony who had just crashed face first in the snow to be annoyed. Which, now that she thought about it, she probably should've expected.<br>"Uh, are you okay?" she asked tentatively. The grey Pegasus wiped the blood from her snout with the back of her hoof and sighed.  
>"I'm fine. Jeez, if I could be stopped by that I wouldn't last long. Not that I care, but if you ponies know what are good for you, you should watch out. Blue's army is lurking." Rainbow opened her mouth and raised a hoof to ask a flurry of questions, but without warning, the grey Pegasus exploded into the air.<p>

"She… she's fast." Rainbow gaped after the Pegasus had left just as quickly as she'd fallen. "Really fast." The other ponies stepped out from their shelters. Pinkie's tail had stopped twitching and the group was satisfied that nothing else was about to fall. Alone among the group, Rarity noticed the look in Rainbow's eyes. A look of intense determination that she'd seen when the Pegasus saved her during the Best Young Flier's competition.  
>"<em>Surely <em>you're not thinking of-" Rarity began, but before she could finish, Dash had… well… dashed off, rocketing into the air just as fast as the grey Pegasus had done. This far away from Ponyville, Rainbow Dash understood that her name wasn't known… yet.  
>"Go on, finish your sentence." Twilight mocked.<br>"Of flying after her." Rarity droned.

Rainbow soared through the night sky faster than any other pony in Equestria. She was closing in on the grey Pegasus rapidly. Or was she? Actually… she seemed to not be catching up at all. Rainbow gritted her teeth and stuck out her hooves. This had just become serious. She followed her new rival higher and higher, up into the clouds, and what she saw was unnerving: a city in the clouds, the size of Cloudsdale, had been decimated. Rubble lie strewn across the grey clouds, and the once beautiful rainbow creation factory was now demolished, and the pools of rainbow bone dry and cracked. Dash stifled a gentle sob, not wanting to know what happened yet feeling guilty somehow. What if this happened to Cloudsdale…? Rainbow pushed the thought from her mind and focused on the chase at hand.

They pierced the upper level of the clouds and left the ruined city behind them. Dash's sight was now gone – all that she could see were the empty black sky above her and the menacing grey clouds around her. She looked around, frustrated, but couldn't find the Pegasus that rivalled her speed. She blended so easily into the black and grey stormy night. Pouting, Rainbow slowly descended back towards the ground. She took careful note of the cloud city as she descended – it looked scarily similar to Cloudsdale. The blue pony landed softly on the clouds and walked around. What had happened here? Where was everypony? A chill went down her spine.

She walked slowly through the city, comparing everything to Cloudsdale. The factories were in the same places. The clouds seem to drift in the same way. She galloped to the other end of the city, navigating it as if it were her own home.

"She's so stubborn!" Rarity pouted. The entire group had paused and craned their necks to the sky to watch Rainbow Dash childishly chase another pony – and it was delaying her bath!  
>"That's Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie exclaimed happily, although, as Rarity noted, she was slightly less happy and her smile was slightly weaker than usual. Pinkie looked concerned about something… but Rarity was too focused on her filthy hooves to ask about it.<br>"Oh, please, can we go ahead? She'll catch up…" Rarity pleaded of the group.  
>"Oh, don't you want to wait for your friend…?" Juliet hummed, and Rarity immediately felt pangs of guilt. Of course she did.<br>"Oh, you're right… we'll wait." Rarity conceded as she shook some excess frost from her hooves.

Rainbow Dash gasped in shock. She had made it to the mirror image of the place that, so many years ago, she had competed in her first Pegasus race and achieved the legendary Sonic Rainboom. The entire Pegasus racecourse was in ruin. Dash didn't even think clouds could be left in ruins, but this place proved her wrong. White puffs and pieces of flags were strewn across the sky recklessly and many pieces of cloud were stained a strange shade of red.  
>"What… happened?" She asked to nopony. Suddenly, a thought struck her. She instantly turned and raced to the other end of the ruins.<p>

"You don't think something bad happened, do you Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered timidly to her purple friend. Twilight, however, barely heard her.  
>"Yeah, sure." Sparkle answered absent-mindedly. She was entirely focused on Dawn and not because of her own jealousy this time. Something she'd noticed, something she wondered how she'd missed, now occupied her thoughts. Dawn's eyes – those pale pink eyes – didn't look like everypony else Twilight had seen. In fact, rather than the white twinkle that was present in everypony's eyes, that she had always taken for granted, Dawn's eyes were just a pink outline of a black circle, and nothing more. Glancing at Juliet, she noticed that Dawn wasn't the only one with that trait. "How odd…" Twilight mumbled taking no note of Fluttershy's near panic about Rainbow Dash. "It must be a Shimmer family thing." She concluded to herself.<p>

Dash skidded to a halt, this time unable to even manage a gasp. She had arrived at the mirror Cloudiseum. Why this city looked exactly like Cloudsdale was a mystery to Dash, but that didn't matter. What mattered was how this all happened. Dash swore to herself to never allow this to happen to her own Cloudsdale, no matter what. This Cloudiseum before her was… broken. It had been blasted away and destroyed from the inside and what remained of the crumbled walls and stands were charred black and burnt.  
>"Why are you following me?" Asked a voice which Rainbow immediately identified as her rival Pegasus. The blue pony swivelled her neck rapidly, looking for her.<br>"Where are you?" She asked, unable to spot the grey and black pony against the grey and black backdrop.  
>"Why are you following me?"<br>"Because you're fast!" Dash admitted. "I wanted to try and catch you. See, I'm the fastest-" She was cut off when she was brutally tackled into the clouds.

"Hey!" was all Rainbow could spit out as she thrashed around, but the grey Pegasus had her pinned efficiently, and held her front leg firmly against Dash's mouth. All Dash could do was stare wide-eyed as the Pegasus above her, who was almost invisible despite being right on top of her, was looking down at her menacingly.  
>"This city is mine. You don't belong here." She scowled at the colourful pony. "The only reason I'm going to let you live is so you can tell the rest of Fury's army to stay the hell away from here." Slowly, the colourless Pegasus released her hold on Rainbow Dash and backed away. Dash scurried to her hooves and glared at her rival.<br>"Who's Fury? What happened here?" Squeaked the Cloudsdale resident. Her rival raised a tentative eyebrow.  
>"You… you don't know?" Asked the darker pony sceptically. Dash shook earnestly. Her rival stuck out a hoof, still staring at Rainbow cautiously. They shook hooves, and the grey pony decided to answer her questions. "For starters, what's your name?"<br>"Rainbow Dash. Yours?"  
>"Blackout Sprint."<p>

"Okay, Blackout Sprint, what happened?" Rainbow Dash asked as she sat on the clouds, looking up at Sprint.  
>"Fury and her army first took over the castle. It started with just six of them, including me. We took over before Princess Stardust knew what was happening. Soon, I and one of the unicorns left the cause. She was captured and imprisoned quickly, but I was far too fast for them. So, in her rage, Fury and her right hand ponies came here and wreaked havoc. This is all that's left – a bunch of dead clouds and the last free citizen… me." Dash just stared, open-mouthed, at Sprint for a long time. The grey Pegasus didn't flinch, didn't even seem to be waiting for the inevitable response. She just stood solemnly on the ruined clouds, thinking of happier times.<p>

"Twitch, twitch, twitch-a twitch!" Pinkie exclaimed to the group.  
>"Uh-oh," Applejack groaned, "what's twitchin'? What's gonna happen?"<br>"My right hooves!"  
>"What in tarnation does that mean?" Applejack asked with a nervous edge to her voice – Pinkie's twitching was never good.<br>"I have no idea! This is new!" Pie chirped, glancing around herself worriedly, being ready for anything. At that moment, Spike was shaken from his trance, and he stopped staring at Rarity. A small belch of green flame, and he held a piece of ruffled parchment in his hand, wrapped carelessly in a blue ribbon. It looked different to the letters from Princess Celestia, but who else could it have been from?  
>"Finally!" Twilight sighed, prying herself from her analysis of Dawn. She cantered over to Spike with a smile. Her horn glowed slightly purple, and the scroll levitated from Spike's hands and unfurled.<p>

Twilight gasped, and read the letter aloud…

"Who… who else was in Fury's army…?" Dash asked, stunned – she was silently vowing to help Sprint get her revenge. Sprint sighed heavily – the memories were clearly uncomfortable to her. Then again, she had surrounded herself with memories in the form of the ruins.  
>"Well, there were only four ponies who attacked here. Besides Fury, there was Seth Blue, and the Shimmer sisters." Dash gasped in horror.<br>"You mean Dawn and Juliet?" She asked. Sprint nodded, and in an instant, Dash tore through the clouds and plummeted back to her friends. Dawn and Juliet had taken part in this destruction? They couldn't be trusted.

"_Twilight,_" Sparkle read aloud from the letter, "_Do not trust Dawn or Juliet Shimmer. They have already taken my sister. Tell me where they are and I will deal with them. I hope you're still alive when this gets to you. Princess Luna._" Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy all looked at the Shimmer sisters suspiciously and almost in disbelief. It was difficult to believe anyone could take the unicorn with the power to raise the sun, but if anyone could do it, Dawn Shimmer had the power. Suddenly, a rainbow coloured streak pierced through the clouds and rocketed straight at the Shimmers, rapidly building speed. Dawn's horn glowed magenta… and a magenta bubble flickered around her and Juliet. Rainbow came ever closer, the whistling of the air through her wings getting louder and louder, and…

_BANG!_

Dash struck the psychic shield Dawn had put up with tremendous force. To Dawn's surprise, the shield buckled and shattered – but it had served its purpose. Rainbow's momentum dropped to zero in an instant, and she simply fell to the snow with a mundane thud.  
>"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled, the only pony to not be silenced and frozen in place by the events. She lifted her hooves to sprint at the Pegasus, when a rumble echoed through the dead forest around her, closing in quickly…<p>

A sinister smile flickered across Dawn Shimmer's face and touched her empty eyes.


	4. Shimmering Blue

3. Shimmering Blue

Dawn Shimmer chuckled slightly, licking her lips and enjoying what was about to happen. She glared at Twilight and focused, ready to use her own magic to outclass the purple unicorn should things get out of hand. Juliet Shimmer stood proudly next to her, an innocent smile unchanged since they had first gone to Ponyville. Somehow it was even more eerie to look at Juliet – Dawn seemed to be thriving in the imminent chaos, but Juliet was simply calm and happy in spite of it.

Pinkie's right hooves continued to twitch more and more aggressively as the sounds from the forest grew louder.  
>"This is gonna be a doozy… and the doozy is gonna be even doozier than the dooziest doozy we've had so far!" She exclaimed, her voice shaking. In fact, the entire ground had begun to shake.<br>"Oh… oh dear…" Fluttershy muttered, slinking into the snow, trembling.  
>"Everypony back into the portal!" Twilight Sparkle yelled, not wanting to see the source of the noise. Everypony immediately turned tail and galloped towards the portal, save for a dazed and unable to stand Rainbow Dash and a scared stiff Fluttershy. Applejack quickly took the lead, and was mere seconds away from the portal…<p>

_Thud._

The same magenta shield that had stopped Rainbow Dash was now blocking their escape. Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie all turned to Dawn and Juliet with an almost pleading look on their faces, whilst Applejack turned in anger.  
>"Y'all better let us leave, Dawn." She said forcefully. "We just wanna go home." The rumble grew even louder, and whatever was coming was about to burst from the shadows.<br>"You want to go to Ponyville?" Dawn asked with fake sympathy. "Don't worry-" her face began to twist into a sinister scowl- "you'll be taken to _Ponyville_." The last word was said with a vicious roar (an actual _roar – _none of the ponies in Ponyville or Canterlot could roar…). Her face mutated into an evil grimace as, at last, a single deep blue stallion tore through the dead branches and stood proudly on the snow. He was huge, almost the size of Princess Celestia, but with thrice the muscle. His mane was long and black and fell carelessly to his side while his tail was short, jagged and black, looking almost battle-torn.  
>"I count two unicorns, two earth ponies, an unconscious Pegasus and a baby dragon. Strange. By the twitching in my flank and nose, I'd have sworn there'd be another Pegasus." He said with a business demeanour. Just then, Fluttershy was slung from her hideout amongst the snow, glowing with a magenta aura. Dawn looked pleased as Fluttershy fell at her hooves.<br>"Ah." He nodded once, then bucked. His rear hooves knocked Fluttershy out cold before she knew it was coming. He looked very pleased with himself as a sliver of blood dribbled from Fluttershy's mouth.

"Rarity!" Twilight whispered. Rarity glanced over to her fellow unicorn, not giving her full attention –she was more fixated on the powerful stallion before them and the lifeless Fluttershy as well as the rumbling coming from the trees.  
>"What?" she whispered back.<br>"If you help me, we should be able to break Dawn's magic!" A single nod from each unicorn, and their horns were glowing as magic poured out of them into the magenta shield.  
>"Twilight Sparkle… Rarity… do you truly want to break that shield while Rainbow Dash lies unconscious at our hooves?" Juliet called. Her silky smooth voice was no longer calming – it was simply terrifying.<br>"She'll wake up." Rarity whispered to Twilight. "We need this shield broken for when she does." To Dawn and Juliet, it looked like the unicorns had ignored them. Dawn sighed aggressively and shook her head.  
>"I'll take care of it."<br>"No." The massive blue stallion said. "Just wait, Miss Shimmer, they'll take care of it." Right on cue, a flood of ponies poured out of the bushes, the rumbling of hooves almost deafening everypony and snapping Twilight and Rarity out of their trance and stopping the flow of magic. The ponies stole over Twilight and Rarity first, clearly understanding that magic was a force to reckon with. Ponies of all sorts and all colours piled on top of them, stomping recklessly while several stood by with ropes and chains, and still more continued to pour out of the trees.

"Argh, I can't use magic with all these ponies thrashing around and distracting me!" Twilight thought, before amending herself. "No… that's not it… I could use it, I can feel it there, but something is blocking me… _Dawn._" The pale pink unicorn was somehow supressing her own magic – but not Rarity's. From just beside her, a great purple and white bang sent the ponies swarming over them scattering – one unfortunate pony was tossed straight into the waiting buck of Applejack and was knocked out cold. Rarity stood proudly, huffing and glaring violently at everypony that had burst from the trees. Her hair was ruffled and dirtied, and she clearly didn't like it.  
>"My hair is <em>filthy<em>! You ponies _dare_ to mess with _perfection_!" She hollered in a fury. White and purple whips of energy lashed out from her horn and took countless ponies off their feet. Several hovered against their will and several others simply collapsed. Others still decided to save themselves and ducked behind the trees. Amidst the chaos, Applejack continued to take out any stray attackers. Pinkie Pie hopped around skilfully, dodging every possible attack with stunning grace. Twilight found herself completely paralysed by Dawn.

"By the way, Seth, the pink one predicts things by twitching." Juliet said to the powerful blue stallion.  
>"..Cool." Seth chuckled.<p>

Spike drowned anypony who came near him with thick green flames. He wasn't a violent creature, but he wasn't about to let anypony hurt Twilight or Lady Rarity. He roared at them all, hoping to keep them at bay… but despite the efforts of him as well as Rarity and Applejack, it just wasn't enough – there were far too many. Soon, they had swarmed over him and managed to rope his snout shut, preventing the flames. He tried to call out for Twilight, but it was useless. His arms and legs were being roped together, and the ponies were now targeting Rarity. This made Spike thrash around wildly, but it was useless. He was trapped.

Rarity had managed to keep everypony at bay for a long time, but she wasn't used to such magic like Twilight and Dawn were – it was taking its toll, and she was exhausted. Without warning, the strain was far too much, and with a final blast of purple and white, knocking several more ponies unconscious, she collapsed into the snow. Ponies swarmed over her with ropes and she met the same fate as Spike.  
>"Cornsarnit, there's too many of 'em! I'll never get 'em all out of this…" Applejack mumbled to herself as she bucked a pony in the jaw just as it leapt at her, knocking out two of its teeth. In an instant, she decided she would be of more use to her friends if she got more help rather than fighting out by herself.<p>

With Rarity out of the way, the ponies turned their attention to Twilight. Being paralysed by Dawn's magic left her unable to defend herself. After a few bucks, Twilight was knocked unconscious and tied up just like Spike and Rarity.

Slowly, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes… her vision was shaky and blurry, and she was too weak to stand at this point, but she was watching everything unfold…

Pinkie Pie and Applejack stood back to back with a circle of ponies around them. It seemed that Applejack's plan of getting help was going to fail terribly. But, she had a backup plan…  
>"Pink," Applejack whispered, "if you create a distraction, I can get outta here, and wrangle us up some help. Do yer trust me?"<br>"Yep." Pinkie immediately broke into song and jumped around, carelessly bouncing on top of the ponies readying themselves to attack.  
>"Bless you, Pinkie Pie." Applejack sighed, watching everypony carefully and looking for an avenue of escape.<p>

"_When I was a little filly and the sun was going do-own… the darkness and the shadows they would always make me fro-own…"_ Pinkie sang as she leapt around. The ponies were getting aggressive – they simply couldn't grab her, and those that had managed to grab her had only done so for a fraction of a second before she had slipped out and continued jumping. "_I'd hide under my pillow from what I thought I saw, but Grannie Pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all…"_ Across the path, Dawn and Seth had silently formed a plan of their own. A length of rope glowed magenta and slithered its way out of the hooves of an ignorant pony, and snaked along the ground towards Pinkie… "_She said Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears. You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh and make them disappear…" _just as she leapt off the ground and flipped to avoid a buck, the rope snapped up and wrapped around her ankles… "_Ha, ha, h-" then_ dragged her into the waiting buck of Seth. Pinkie's neck snapped and her skull cracked onto the ground, and she lay unconscious and unmoving as blood trickled and oozed from her mouth and ear. Seth smirked proudly to himself, to which Dawn just shook her head. Seth, Dawn and Juliet personally tied up Fluttershy, and then surrounded Rainbow Dash while Dawn controlled another piece of magenta glowing rope.

"Hey! She's getting away!" Called a random pony as part of the attacking army tore into the snowy forest. Looking around, Dawn knew what had happened – Applejack took advantage of the distraction and fled. She growled in rage – an escapee wasn't part of the plan.  
>"Damn it, Seth, you and your army had better <em>find her!<em>" Dawn screeched.  
>"Hey, you're the one that should have a shield around the area. What happened to that?" Seth growled in return.<br>"I put it down because I thought your army had captured everypony!"  
>"We haven't even tied up the last Pegasus and your shield is down? Fury is gonna be pissed."<br>"Look, that's not important." Juliet interjected. "Let's just gather up the other ponies and get back to the castle before Fury thinks we pulled a Blackout Sprint."

"Applejack ran away… from us…?" Rainbow thought to herself. "She must have gone to get help… that's what I should do too… I can't get everypony out of here… there's no way they could catch me, but Dawn's magic is too much for me… and if I went to get Blackout Sprint's help, they'd just put the shield back up and I'd save nopony… but which one do I save? Pinkie looks seriously hurt, I should probably save her… but Twilight's magic is really useful… no… the most useful thing would be Princess Celestia, and to get to her, I need…" her eyes landed on the squirming purple dragon. She licked her lips once and tore across the snowy ground, trying to avoid looking at her injured friends, especially Pinkie and Fluttershy. Dash had never seen blood before, and it just… it wasn't right. Before anypony could react – more specifically, before the magenta shield could be replaced – Dash had snatched up the baby dragon and dived into the portal. Seconds later, they were spat back out into the bright, sunny outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres.

"SHIT!" Seth cursed loudly as he galloped across the snow, intentionally stomping on Pinkie's exposed gut as he ran. As he closed in on the portal, he felt himself lifted into the air and the wind in his lifeless black mane stop. He glanced at his side and noted the magenta aura, then turned to Dawn with a scowl. "What gives, Shimmer? I can handle losing the cowgirl but I'll be damned if we lose Sprint's twin!" Dawn's scowl equalled Seth's.  
>"You can't go through that portal right now, it's about to-" <em>BOOM! <em>The crimson portal collapsed in on itself and, with a massive shockwave and a loud bang, it was gone, and the only remnants of it were the winds that followed its destruction and the unconscious ponies in the snow that had come through it.

Dash rose to her hooves, then quickly untied Spike, whose mouth was slightly bruised – the ropes had burnt as she squirmed.  
>"You okay, Spike?" She asked.<br>"Twilight! Rarity! We gotta go back! We-" _BOOM!_ The portal was gone. Rainbow Dash and Spike gaped at the spot where the portal had been, the wind flicking Dash's mane and tail around wildly. Their minds raced – how could they help their friends now? Was there any other way? Had they actually just abandoned them?  
>"Girls…" Rainbow Dash mumbled helplessly before turning to Spike with a frown. "Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia. If anyone can open that portal again, it's her, and she'll do anything to help Twilight out of a jam."<br>"Oh, uh, Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia was kidnapped by Dawn and Juliet… we got a letter from Princess Luna while you were up in the clouds…" Spike uttered. Rainbow Dash was shocked, and she was running out of options. They took an Alicorn…?  
>"Well… Well fine, send a message to Princess Luna then, she's an Alicorn too and she'll help her sister… right?"<br>"Worth a shot…"

_Luna,_

_This is Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus that clears the skies above Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle's assistant – Spike – and myself are the only two that managed to escape back through the portal Dawn and Juliet led us all through. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy have all been ponynapped, and Applejack managed to escape, but is still stuck on the other side.  
>These ponies are organised and have some serious muscle.<br>Please help us get back our friends, and your sister._

_Rainbow Dash._


	5. Over the Rainbow Dash

4. Over the Rainbow Dash

"Hey, Dash." A familiar voice floated over the stunned silence Rainbow Dash and Spike were sharing in the minute following the portal's explosion. In the moment, for reasons she couldn't explain, Rainbow Dash thought it might have been one of her friends. Alas, her eyes only fell upon her old Junior Speedsters friend – the griffon, Gilda. Dash's face fell in disappointment, which Gilda misinterpreted as Rainbow simply not wanting to see her.  
>"Oh… hey Gilda…" Rainbow croaked.<br>"What was that red thing you just came out of? Where'd the rest go?" The griffon asked, genuinely caring. This was lost on the blue Pegasus.  
>"Not now, Gilda."<br>"Look, Dash, I know we kind of-"  
>"I said 'not now'." Rainbow hoisted Spike onto her back, and flapped her feathered wings, taking off into the sky and leaving Gilda behind. A thought flickered into Dash's mind for the first time since she had learnt that Dawn and Juliet couldn't be trusted – Cloudsdale. She couldn't explain this either, but she just had to make sure her home was okay.<p>

She rose into the sky and saw the distant city… and it looked intact. Rainbow Dash sighed with relief, but soared towards Cloudsdale anyway. The sun was at a low point in the sky, and was descending far slower than it usually did… Princess Celestia truly was gone…

Rainbow Dash quickly arrived at Cloudsdale. She looked around and, she was immensely pleased to see, perfectly intact. The Cloudiseum was fine, as were the factories, and the city was as populous as ever.  
>"YES!" Dash cheered to herself. At least one thing was alright, even if her friends were still missing. In her joy, she accidentally tossed Spike off her back, and he fell through the clouds. Without a word, Rainbow dove through the clouds and after the dragon, only to be stopped seconds later by a yellow claw.<br>"Don't ignore me, Rainbow Dash." Gilda demanded, holding Spike by the throat with one claw. "I'm trying to get back at Pinkie Pie, and you're gonna help me, else the infant is gonna fall a long, long way." Rainbow wasn't in the mood.  
>"If you drop him, I'll just catch him. I'm way faster than you." She stated, and by her tone, and the fire in her purple eyes, Gilda could see she was serious.<br>"Alright, how's this then. If you don't help me, I'll snap his neck." Dash was taken aback – Gilda wasn't a nice person, but she had _never_ threatened to injure like that. Had her humiliation at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's hooves really eroded her sanity away like that? Rainbow's mind raced… and came to a quick plan.  
>"Well, there's something I want from you, Gilda. So I'll make you a deal. We race for it – if you win, I'll help you prank Pinkie Pie. If I win, you have to help me re-open that portal. Deal?"<br>"But, how am I-"  
>"Deal?"<br>"Dash, I don't-"  
>"Deal?"<br>"But…"  
>"<em>Deal?<em>"  
>"Fine! You've got a deal! I'll race you to the Everfree Forest! Ready, set, go!" As she speared through the sky towards their improvised finish line, she lobbed Spike carelessly behind her.<p>

Dash was not in the mood to fool around, especially when her friends lives were already in danger. But when Gilda tossed Spike into the air and endangered his life, something snapped inside of Rainbow Dash – the fierce loyalty that defined her mutated into an all-consuming rage. In an instant, she had snatched Spike from the sky. Folding her wings to her sides, she plummeted to the ground. Spike almost pulled out her feathers as he struggled to hold on, but he did and in seconds, they were on the ground. Spike dismounted, and opened his mouth to talk.  
>"Stay here. I'll be back in… oh… ten seconds flat." In a rainbow coloured puff of smoke, Dash was gone.<p>

Narrowing her eyes and sticking her hooves out before her, Rainbow Dash soared through the skies at a breakneck speed. In seconds, she had gone passed a stunned Gilda, touched the edge of the Everfree Forest, turned tail and flew back. Mid-flight, she tackled the griffon and, in exactly nine point five seconds, slammed Gilda into the dirt next to Spike. The racers came to a skidding halt.  
>"I win." Dash spoke through gritted teeth. Spike cheered, only just coming to the realisation that Rainbow Dash had saved his life.<br>"Your… hoof…" Gilda choked. Rainbow realised her hoof was pressed down on Gilda's throat, but didn't care. After seeing her friends knocked out and ponynapped, Dash wasn't in a kind mood.  
>"Okay, Gilda, you're going to help me." Rainbow demanded as she pulled her hoof away.<br>"Maybe I don't wanna help you save those dorks?" Gilda said, sucking in air.  
>"Then maybe I'll tear off your wings and throw you from the clouds like you did to Spike." The Pegasus retorted. Gilda was stunned – Rainbow Dash's aggression and lack of sanity was outmatching her own. She swallowed, and decided to live up to her word.<br>"Alright, I'll help." She forced herself to say, and held her claw out. Dash took it with her own hoof then turned to Spike.

"Spike, has Luna replied?" She asked.  
>"No, not ye-" The dragon started, but couldn't finish, for at that moment, he let out a belch of green flame, and a scroll wrapped in blue ribbon appeared. Spike unravelled it and Rainbow Dash leaned in, and the two read Luna's response…<p>

_Rainbow Dash,  
>Is the portal still alive? If it is, don't use it, they become unstable fairly quickly and destroy themselves. A new portal can be opened at any time to take you back, but Celestia was the only pony as far as I know who knew how to open it… still, there are countless unicorns in Equestria. Perhaps one of them could open the portal. Your time would best be spent searching for these unicorns.<br>On a side note, I am not Luna, I am _Princess_ Luna. Know your place, citizen.  
>Princess Luna.<em>

_Luna,  
>I'll call you what I want and you'll take it if you want your sister back, especially after the way you treated me and my friends.<br>What happened to Princess Celestia? How do you even know that a portal can take us back when you don't know where it is I want to go?  
>I'll search for unicorns but I better not be wasting my time.<br>Rainbow Dash._

"Rainbow Dash," Spike began tentatively, "are you alright? You seem a lot angrier…"  
>"I lost my five best friends today, Spike. Did you expect me to be happy?"<br>"Well, no, but you don't need to take it out on Princess Luna like that, she's just trying to help…" Rainbow Dash sighed.  
>"You're right…"<br>"Yeah, Dash," Gilda spoke up, "I think you owe me an apology."  
>"Shut up." Gilda instantly shut up and wiped her arrogant smirk away. "You agreed to help me. So you're going to go to Cloudsdale and look for unicorns – anypony who can cast a spell to walk on clouds or grow their own wings could be useful. Spike, you and I are going to look around Ponyville." Rainbow snatched Spike in her wing and galloped to the nearest door, and began the unicorn hunt as Gilda flew towards Cloudsdale.<p>

~Meanwhile, on the other side of the portal~

Since she could easily blend into the night sky, Blackout Sprint felt very comfortable flying around near Dawn Shimmer, Juliet Shimmer, Seth Blue, and their four prisoners. Not that she cared about them, but these ponies had put up a decent fight… the white one's magic held the attackers at bay for some time, and the pink one was ridiculously agile. The yellow one was entirely useless, which was very strange, considering who she resembled… Sprint considered saving the white unicorn – her magic wasn't anywhere near Dawn Shimmer's standard, but she had potential… although, she had simply passed out. Then again, that would probably mean she was in better condition than the other three who had been kicked in the skull until consciousness left them. Who knew what sort of brain damage they might have received…

A smile spread across Blackout's face. Nothing would amuse her more than setting one of the prisoners free and reducing Fury's prize to three out of six. But, she had a better idea. Right now, the cowboy hat wearing pony was dashing through the forest, being closely pursued by what was left of Blue's attack force. As if she were never there, Sprint left Seth, the Shimmers and the prisoners behind, soaring to where she'd last seen Applejack.

~Elsewhere~

Applejack was running through the forest faster than she'd ever run before. Faster than when she had raced Rainbow Dash during the running of the leaves. Faster than when she had grabbed Twilight Sparkle's hooves just before the unicorn fell to her death. Faster than when she was being chased by a hydra. Not only did her life depend on her running, but her friend's lives as well. And what about the Apple family? She couldn't just allow herself to be captured and leave her family one pony down during apple buck season, and worried sick about her.

Applejack was running for everypony she knew.

But she was running a little _too _fast. A stray branch that Applejack failed to see in the darkness of night, and she tripped up. Her hoof twisted against the ground as she fell, followed by a loud snap. Her whole body fell against the ground, and her back right ankle throbbed in pain – it was broken, and she knew it. But that wouldn't stop her. Clenching her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut, she got to her three functioning hooves, and carefully galloped deeper into the forest.

The sounds of ponies charging after her that had been getting more and more distant were now slowly… ever so slowly… closing in. A single tear rolled down Applejack's cheek… she had to make it out, but she just couldn't get away… she had to hide. Scanning her immediate surroundings, she found a small ditch next to a tree – one that would surely not be spotted by ponies running to catch up.

The rumble of hooves approached… Applejack held her breath…

The ponies were galloping right past the ditch. She was going to make it out okay.  
>"Woah!" A single, clumsy pony cried as he fell into the ditch. He landed right on top of Applejack's ankle, and she couldn't stifle the cry of pain that followed. It echoed through the night and stopped everypony in their tracks.<br>"Well done, sixty-six." Another voice floated through the forest. The ponies had now surrounded her. It was over. She wouldn't make it to get help. She wouldn't make it back to her friends or family. She might not even make it out alive.  
>"Thanks." The pony sharing the ditch said. He seemed proud of himself for accidentally finding her.<br>"I'll be damned if I let anypony stop me from gettin' back to mah friends…" Applejack mumbled, biting the pony on the neck. He tried to scream, but Applejack had squeezed his throat shut with a savage bite. A loud crunch later, and he fell lifeless into the soil. Applejack cried freely now – she had barely injured anyone before, let alone killed… she didn't know she had it in her… but she had to do it for her friends. As silently as she could manage, she climbed out of the ditch, timing her hoofsteps to be overpowered by calls for sixty-six. She slowly stepped away from the dead pony… if she kept this up, she'd get away…

Then a light burst forth, and the entire area was lit up – somepony had brought a torch.  
>"What the… one-oh-seven, you had a torch? You think we could've used that a bit earlier?"<br>"Hey, look, there she is!"  
>"Well, brilliant. Get her." Applejack turned tail and tried to run, but bumped into a large stallion and fell onto her broken ankle, then fell to the ground. She wept now, as all hope had been extinguished. The ponies took out ropes and surrounded her. One pony, with a fleshy '127' carved over his cutie mark, stepped up to her, and held one hoof above her head. He was going to knock her out with one swift stomp. Applejack braced herself…<p>

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the light was gone. Several confused cries and angry, abusive yells at one-oh-seven filled the air. To Applejack's surprise, a yelp came from the pony just above her. Seconds later, she felt herself being lifted into the air as well, but she didn't have the energy left to fight it. And even if she did, she'd just land in the middle of the attackers anyway. The light came on again, and everypony glared up at Applejack, and the black and grey pony that was now lifting her away from the carnage.  
>"BLACKOUT SPRINT!" The enraged yell erupted from everypony, including the ones that Sprint had just lifted up and dropped awkwardly back onto the ground.<br>"Send Fury my regards, numbers." Blackout quipped with a childish smirk as she tore into the sky. Everypony could track her with Applejack in her hooves, but it didn't matter. She was the fastest pony alive, nopony could catch her… although, that Rainbow Dash was pretty damn fast…

Applejack closed her eyes.  
>"Thank y'all fer savin' me." She sighed. The pain in her ankle subsided as fatigue set in, and slowly, mercifully, unconsciousness took her as well. Blackout Sprint looked down at the now unconscious workhorse and grinned.<br>"Don't thank me. I didn't do it for you. But being unable to capture you is really gonna make Fury mad." Sprint chuckled as she and her cargo pierced the clouds, no longer in sight. They were home free.


End file.
